The Museum of Hoaxes

The Hoax Museum Blog

Champagne Tablets

Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2014. Comments (1)

This Day in the History of Hoaxes: August 29

August 29, 1923: Grover Bergdoll's Gold
The claim that a road worker had discovered Grover Bergdoll's buried pot of gold prompted a two-day investigation by federal agents. But on this day in 1923, the story was revealed to be a practical joke among the workers that spun out of control. The pot of gold in question was believed to have been buried by the wealthy draft dodger Bergdoll in 1917. He escaped prison in 1920 by convincing his guards of its existence and then slipping free of them when they accompanied him to find it. Treasure hunters continued to look for it. But in 1939, after finally surrendering to authorities, Bergdoll admitted there was no buried pot of gold. [Pennsylvania Historical Society]

Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2014. Comments (0)

Das Can-in-Stein

Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2014. Comments (0)

For ZZ Top, life imitates hoax

Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2014. Comments (1)

Sailing Stones Explained

Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2014. Comments (1)

The Shadwell Shams

Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2014. Comments (0)

This Day in the History of Hoaxes: August 28

August 28, 1972: Clifford Irving Goes to Prison
On this day in 1972, Clifford Irving began serving a 2½-year sentence for conspiracy and fraud on account of selling publisher McGraw-Hill a fake autobiography of billionaire Howard Hughes, for which he was paid $750,000. By the time he went to prison, he had returned $500,000 of that money. He was released early after serving 16 months. More…

Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2014. Comments (0)

Happy Meal Ouija Board

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014. Comments (0)

An interview with a fake news site

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014. Comments (1)

Gnome sighting in Pennsylvania —

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014. Comments (7)

Pregnancy Hoax

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014. Comments (0)

This Day in the History of Hoaxes: August 27

August 27, 2003: Mars as big as the Moon
The news that on this day in 2003 the Earth and Mars would be closer than they had been in 60,000 years (only 56 million km apart) inspired a viral email claiming that on the night of the 27th Mars would "look as large as the full moon" in the sky, and that "No one alive today will ever see this again." Since 2003, this viral email has resurfaced every year as August 27 approaches, despite attempts by NASA (and many others) to debunk it. [NASA]

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014. Comments (0)